The “father” of abortion drugs was mourned by the media. The drug’s victims, not so much.
The real legacy of Étienne-Émile Baulieu: deception, death and bad science
Late last month, French chemist Étienne-Émile Baulieu – the developer of mifepristone, who’s been dubbed with the ironic title “father” of abortion drugs – died at the age of 98. Major media outlets rolled out portrayals of a man that ranged from mildly complicated, but mostly well-intentioned, to a heroic figure beset by irrational foes.
A 2,100-word eulogy in The Washington Post rightly noted the Nazi connections of the parent company of Roussel-Uclaf, the drugmaker behind RU-486, known as mifepristone (fact-check: yes, they are a branch of the same family tree as the German manufacturers of gas used to poison millions in death camps). The Post incorrectly claimed the drug’s U.S. debut was slow-walked over politics, when records show how a politicized FDA expedited approval at the behest of President Clinton.
Worse, the Post found more space to mention the monkeys that perished during abortion drug testing than its numerous human victims over the years (including three women dead within a few months of one another, all with abortion drugs as the common factor):
He ultimately persuaded the company to pursue human abortion trials. He first, however, had to make the case that RU-486 was safe. Toxicity tests had caused three monkeys to become so ill that they had to be euthanized. Dr. Baulieu argued that the drug was working as it should, but that the monkeys were given doses that were too high.
Like many others marching in the same ranks, Baulieu purported not to be pro-abortion. However, he wasn’t shy about his resentment toward pro-life advocates who correctly identified the action of his drug as killing a baby, labeling such speech “a crime.” His modus operandi was to attack the motives and character of opponents. As late as 2022, he accused, “A method that makes the termination of pregnancy less physically traumatic for women and less risky to their health has always been rejected by pro-lifers: what they really seek is to harm and punish women.”
Baulieu was wrong. His own invention is responsible for incalculable harm to women along with their babies, and the pro-lifers he maligned were standing up for them all along.
The New York Times’ obituary for Baulieu parroted, without offering evidence, the claim that Mifeprex (mifepristone and misoprostol) has “been proved safe and highly effective.” Indeed, the abortion industry talking point goes, mifepristone is safer even than Tylenol. A new peer-reviewed article in the journal BioTech by Charlotte Lozier Institute’s Dr. Cameron Louttit dismantles the bad science behind that comparison, which was fishy from the start.
Women like Elizabeth know the painful reality all too well.
For the second time, CLI researchers have confirmed not only that abortion drugs are fueling an increase in women’s visits to the emergency room, but that their complications are also more likely to be severe. In the latest study using anonymized Medicaid claims data, researchers analyzed nearly 29,000 ER visits within 30 days of a surgical or drug-induced abortion, assessing whether each was correctly linked to the abortion or misclassified as a miscarriage and evaluating the severity of each case. They found ER visits following drug-induced abortions were 79% more likely to be miscoded as miscarriages than those after surgical abortions. From 2016-2021, 84% of abortion-drug-related ER visits were miscoded – and those visits were 50% more likely to be severe compared to accurately coded ones.
This comes on the heels of separate reports from Foundation for the Restoration of America and Ethics & Public Policy Center providing troubling evidence that abortion drugs are more dangerous than FDA information shows, hamstringing women’s right to informed consent. It also flies in the face of abortion activists – pill-pushers, lionized by The New York Times, who know full well they’re breaking the law – insisting there is “no medical reason” for women to tell ER doctors they’ve used abortion drugs or any medical danger in withholding that information from treating physicians.
Nor can we assume all of the hundreds of thousands of drug-induced abortions happening each year are freely chosen. A North Texas woman and her baby have become the latest casualties of a disturbing form of domestic violence. Via People:
…Authorities said Banta’s ex-girlfriend accused him of slipping “Plan C” into her drink after trying to convince her to get an abortion.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim said she and Banta were in a romantic relationship last September when she learned she was pregnant. Banta then allegedly “proposed to cover the cost [of] an abortion and suggested they order the ‘Plan C’ online.” However, the victim told police she allegedly informed Banta she wanted to keep the baby.
By October, the alleged victim told police she met up with Banta at a local coffee shop in Tarrant County, Texas, “where she expressed her suspicion that Banta had secretly added abortion-inducing pills to her drink without her knowledge or permission, while they were at a coffee shop.”
The next day, the woman told police she allegedly began experiencing fatigue and heavy bleeding, leading her to go to an emergency room.
“The victim reported she lost her baby on Oct. 19, which she believed was a result of the drugs Banta had previously placed in her drink at the coffee shop without her permission,” the Parker County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Plan C” is a website that encourages people to use deception to get around local, protective health and safety laws and purchase abortion drugs.
In Massachusetts, a man was charged for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend after he easily obtained mail-order abortion drugs, which he passed off as iron supplements, killing the child:
"The investigation suggests that the defendant and the victim were in a dating relationship and that the victim became pregnant," officials said. "Upon learning of the pregnancy, the defendant allegedly ordered the [drugs], misoprostol and mifepristone, online. In placing that order he is alleged to have used the identity of another female who was known to him."
Emily Davis, vice president of communications at SBA Pro-Life America, sheds light on the true legacy of the “father” of abortion drugs:
Étienne-Émile Baulieu leaves behind a legacy of death and deception. His creation of the abortion drug opened the floodgates to today’s abortion industry, where groups like Planned Parenthood now push dangerous abortion drugs through apps and the mail. Women and girls are misled into thinking these drugs are as “safe as Tylenol,” despite a growing body of research exposing this lie. His passing is a reminder of the urgent need to defund these abortion machines and stand for truth, life and real care for women and children.
Led by Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA has pledged to undertake a fresh review of the risks of mifepristone in light of the evidence. Under the new Trump administration, we strongly hope to leave a far better legacy than that of Baulieu and of Biden’s mail-order abortion regime for women and children in the future.